Behavior-Based Safety

(BBS)
What is the importance of a well-planned BBS program?

Lower number of accidents/ incidents, near-misses, and property damage

Improved levels of safe behaviors
Reduced accident costs
Better maintenance of workspace resources
Ability to determine causes of illnesses/injuries
Enhancement of traditional safety systems
Overall acceptance of the system by employees
Increased reporting of defects, near misses, accidents, etc.
People are more likely to report accidents and near-misses as they learn to trust the
system. But, if a company adopts or runs a blame the victim type of culture, accidents are
unlikely to be reported as they have negative connotations for those who do report them.

Approximately 80% to 95% of all accidents are triggered by unsafe behaviors in the workplace
Problems with the implementation of a BBS program:

Difficulties mainly arise from attempts in short-cutting the process, due to:
Perceived time pressures
Attempts to minimize the number of resources needed
Or, from ineffective advice received from an inexperienced BBS consulting company

If the introduction of a BBS program is not done right the first time, it leaves employees
unconvinced that this type of system could work in the future
What is the Return on Investment for BBS?
Most importantly, behavior-based safety saves:
Time
Money
Energy
Improvement of morale among employees, and between employees and managers

Costs of accidents/ incidents are both direct and indirect:

Direct Costs = investigation, production downtime, medical expenses, damage to
equipment or product, repairs, legal costs, fines, etc.
Indirect Costs = employer/ public liability, business interruption, training replacements, loss
of goodwill/ employee morale, negative public image
How much does BBS typically cost? What is the payback?
The cost ultimately depends on the size and complexity of the organization.
An implementation process at a single location with 250 employees will typically average
from $40,000 to $60,000.
Generally, implementation costs could range anywhere from $12,000 for small sites, and up
to over $250,000 for very large organizations.

Many organizations see a return on their investment in as little as 12 months.

(Thomas Krause, Co-founder/CEO of Behavioral Science Technology)

Case Study: Krause analyzed a conglomerate of 50 different companies:

Average Employee Population 460 employees
Average Breakeven Point 27 months
Using $567 direct costs per injury and an indirect multiplier of five, the average net
cumulative savings in the first 5 years was $1.54 million.
Formula to calculate Return on Investment: